I just love how my home looks this time of year - adorned with festive lights and beautiful ornaments.
Every year, I fill my home with lots of cheerful holiday decorations. In my Winter House, I put up Christmas trees, wreaths, and lots of charming woodland animals. I like to include a mix of old favorites as well as new, including items I've developed for my own collections. All these beautiful objects delight everyone who visits my home throughout the season.
Enjoy these photos.
My Chow Chows Empress Qin and Emperor Han are ready for the holidays.
This large wreath is above my Winter House kitchen door. I love to decorate my home with lots of wreaths inside and out.
Indoors, on each of the windows in my servery we hung silver wreaths. The servery is between my sitting room and my kitchen. A servery is a room from which meals are served. Whenever I entertain, I like to use the area for serving desserts and drinks.
On the middle island, a gorgeous holiday cactus in bloom – it adds such wonderful color.
I always use lots and lots of trees – big and small, green, silver, or gold in every room. These are simple, white bottlebrush trees sitting on my servery counter.
In my adjacent sitting room, a beautiful gold tree filled with ornaments and lights. Many of these ornaments are also from my collections on QVC and at Martha.com.
These Metallic Fur Owls have metallic feathers and faux fur. We placed two under the tree with some wrapped gifts.
Wreaths don’t always have to be hung from doors or windows. We hung my jeweled wreaths from the sconces in my sitting room.
And this colorful ball wreath hangs from the beak of the giant falcon in my entrance hall.
Last year, I created artful metallic houses modeled after the outbuildings here at my farm. This one is my stable with its big doors in front. Lights shine through all the windows of these gold-toned structures. They’re great on a table or along a wide windowsill where guests can see them.
In my Green Parlor, another pre-lit tree filled green toned ornaments.
Green, silver, and copper bottle brush trees adorn the table.
And this flocked tree in a planter is one of two flanking the fireplace. One can never have too many trees during the holidays.
In my Brown Room, silver ornaments and glass icicles fill every branch of this tree.
On a nearby table, wise men and a camel – just some of the figures in my Nativity Set – now in an elegant ceramic gold. It is comprised of 14-figurines in all, including three camels, two shepherds, two oxen, three wisemen, an in-keeper, Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus in a manger.
We hung shiny Jeweled Icicle Ornaments on this tabletop tinsel tree sitting on my long dining room table.
And here above my Equipment Barn doors is my Martha Stewart LED 30-inch Shooting Star available at Martha.com. I love these shooting stars and hang one on every building at my farm during the holidays. I hope you’re enjoying this week before Christmas. And Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate! And be sure to go to my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 to see my holiday greeting.
You know winter is near when various ornamental vessels around my Bedford, New York farm are covered in burlap.
As many of you know, I've been covering shrubs and hedges with burlap for many years to protect them from splaying and breaking from the weight of snow and ice. I have shared posts showing our annual process. I feel it is equally important to protect my outdoor garden ornaments from the harsh winter elements. A winter freeze, alternating with thaws, could crack or crumble any kind of stone or cement, especially if it is antique. During this time, all my outdoor planters, birdbaths, stanchions, etc., are covered in the same burlap used for my live specimens.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This time of year, it is not unusual to see rolls of burlap and other “burlapping” supplies around the farm. My outdoor grounds crew is rushing to get this big annual project done. Aside from the boxwood, I have many outdoor containers and garden ornaments that are covered and protected with burlap and kept in their respected locations for the duration of the cold season. When we can, we reuse burlap from seasons past; however, it is also available in giant rolls of 40-inches or 60-inches wide. Also called hessian, burlap is made in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India from jute, a tall, grass-like plant grown for its strong fibrous stalks.
To sew the burlap, we use jute twine. It is all natural and the same color as the burlap.
Because stone, cement, and clay-based materials can crack from exposure to the winter elements, it’s important to protect them. Here is one of two terracotta pots in front of my Summer House. Phurba first covers the opening with a custom cut piece of plywood.
Then he wraps the entire vessel with industrial strength plastic and secures it with twine.
Next, Phurba cuts the burlap fabric to fit – one long piece that can completely wrap around the urn and begins to sew the ends closed.
Starting from the bottom, Phurba makes small stitches and knots to keep the burlap in place. He also makes sure the burlap protects as much of the bottom as possible.
Once the burlap is secured and the ends are tucked and sewn, Phurba begins stitching the fabric together and pulling the burlap snug at the top and around the pot.
Here is a view from the side. There is a lot of tucking involved, and a lot of stitching and knotting, but my crew has been covering these containers with burlap every year for quite some time – they are all excellent burlap sewers.
And underneath all the vessels are small wooden shims, which keep the urns raised and away from any water or melting snow on the stone surface or ground.
Depending on the size of the vessel and how much sewing is needed, each piece takes about 20 to 30 minutes to complete. Burlap is so useful for many gardening projects – it is inexpensive, biodegradable, and the color and texture of burlap is so pretty to use.
On the terrace behind my Summer House is where I keep several smaller and very heavy planters as well as a group of seven faux bois containers that also need covering this time of year. Here, they are placed together and covered as one. This burlap remains on the stone objects until early spring, so it must be done very carefully to withstand strong winds and heavy snowfall.
Here is another giant planter in front of my Winter House. The burlap is sewn tightly, but with some space for air circulation.
They look very neat and tidy from the top. This planter is one of two on the steps of the upper terrace parterre.
These two smaller covered urns are on the lower terrace parterre outside my Winter House kitchen.
This burlap cover is protecting the boxwood and the birdbath. We used framing used for the hoop houses to cover the entire area. One can see how much space there is inside for ample air circulation.
The crew knows where every stone container and ornament is located – and never miss a single one.
Here are the covered birdbaths and planters that sit outside the stable office where my business manager, property director and operations manager work.
And these urns are the stately Kenneth Lynch garden urns flanking the entrance to the flower cutting garden. They are more than 500-pounds each. The pair is usually one of the first to get wrapped in burlap before each cold season.
This year, outside my green parlor, we used old hoop house frames to cover these growing boxwood. Every year, our methods change slightly to accommodate the growing plants. Keeping good, usable materials for repurposing is always something I try to do. I am glad these metal frames can still be used – they’re perfect for this space.
All done, the same area now looks like an art installation.
The herbaceous peony bed is also complete – covered all the way around to protect the shrubs for the next several months.
All the burlap does block views of the landscape, but it is comforting to know that come spring, the many shrubs and hedges will look lush, green, and just as beautifully shaped as they did before they were covered. There is still so much “burlapping” to do around the farm, but the team has done most of it already, and winter officially begins tomorrow.
Less than a week before Christmas and everyone here at my Bedford, New York farm is getting into the holiday spirit - even the horses.
I have 10 residents in my stable - four Friesians, a Fell pony, and five Sicilian donkeys. Every day, during my tour around the property, I always stop in to see them. Caring for equids is a huge responsibility, but it brings me great joy to know that they are happy and in the best possible health. They get lots of exercise, good food and vitamins, regular grooming, and plenty of attention. Recently, we also took photos of them in their yuletide best.
Enjoy these images.
This is my stable located at one end of my long Boxwood Allèe. It is in the center of a cobblestone courtyard flanked by two other buildings – my carriage house and my property office. If you look closely, above the main barn doors is an ornamental cast iron horse head gifted to me by my friend, antiques dealer Jim Klinko, owner of Furniture on Consignment II in Westport, Connecticut.
Inside my stable feed room, the horses’ dinner bowls are set out every afternoon and filled with the appropriate supplements for each equine.
These are commercial flour bins from a bakery. I use them in the stable for storing grains, and in my greenhouse head house for storing and organizing different planting mediums.
Along with their various supplements, each horse gets a cup of their favorite grains.
We also add a special veterinarian-developed performance powder that supports joints, muscles, hooves, skin, and coat. The horses all love it.
The horses each get a couple flakes of hay. It is crucial that we monitor the amount of hay the horses consume, so they don’t become overweight or develop digestion issues. My stable crew is very mindful of the horses’ hay intake. Most of the horses like their hay wet, so we soak it about 30-minutes and then let it drain completely before feeding. Soaking also cuts down on the amount of dust generated by the hay. We’re using a Scenic Road wheelbarrow designed with a special custom drainage hole that works so well for this purpose and for washing my dogs.
A smaller tub is used to soak alfalfa for Rinze. Alfalfa is nutritionally dense. It contains high levels of calcium, as well as magnesium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, lysine, vitamin C, vitamin K, and folic acid. It is also high protein forage, so it makes an excellent supplement for senior horses.
All the other horses get a few soaked alfalfa cubes in their bowls as an added treat.
Here’s Fernando bringing Hylke and Geert back to the stable from their paddock. These horses are so active, they love being outdoors, even when it’s rainy or cold.
And here’s Banchunch already eating his grains and supplements. Because horses have small stomachs relative to their size, they eat little and often. A horse needs food spread out, preferably in two to three feedings a day.
On this rainy day, after eating, their legs and feet are given a quick wash with tepid water to remove any mud and debris.
And then indoors, all the equines got into a bit of holiday spirit. Here’s Hylke with a Christmas cap – made just for horses.
Bond walked through the stable with his – so handsome.
And Geert showed this holiday cheer out the window of his stall.
My Fell Pony Banchunch also joined the fun.
This is Rinze, the patriarch of my stable – he is a gorgeous and faultless steed.
Even the donkeys participated – here’s Billie, one of two jennys or females, in my stable.
And here’s Jude “JJ” Junior, the other pretty girl.
Wait, what about the boys? They’re wondering what all the activity is next door.
Not to worry, they all got a turn. This is Truman “TJ” Junior. I think he likes the holiday hat.
And Clive, the tallest of my Sicilian donkeys.
And here’s Rufus wishing everyone a joyous holiday season. Just six days to go before Christmas. I hope you all have a safe and festive week ahead.
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